History
of dressmaking

The Oxford
English
Dictionary
first records
dressmaker
in 1803.
Throughout
the nineteenth
century
and until
the rise
of
ready-to-wear,
most women
who did
not make
their own
clothes
at home
resorted
to a local
dressmaker,
who copied
or adapted
the latest
fashions
from Paris
based on
printed
illustrations
called
fashion
plates.